Best Public Schools in Zip Code 28804

Zip code 28804 is served by just two public elementary schools, Ira B Jones Elementary and Woodfin Elementary, with no middle or high schools located in the area. Ira B Jones, enrolling 369 students in grades PK–5, is part of Asheville City Schools, while Woodfin, enrolling 111 students in grades K–5, belongs to Buncombe County Schools. Although the two schools sit only a few miles apart, they serve very different student populations and deliver very different academic results.

Ira B Jones stands out as the stronger school academically, ranking in the 43rd percentile of North Carolina elementary schools for 2025–2026, while Woodfin ranks near the bottom at the 3rd percentile. Ira B Jones posts above-average results in several areas, particularly 5th grade reading at 69.0% proficiency and 5th grade science at 76.2%, compared with state averages of 55.3% and 67.7%. Woodfin, on the other hand, sits at just over 30% proficiency in 3rd and 4th grade math and reading, roughly 25–35 points below the state, and has ranked in the bottom 6% for three consecutive years. In the subjects where both schools have data, Ira B Jones averages 49.4% proficiency versus Woodfin's 32.8%, a gap of about 17 percentage points.

Woodfin's challenges are deep-rooted. It spends more per student ($17,004 vs. $13,444) and has a more favorable student-teacher ratio (10.2 vs. 13.5) than Ira B Jones, yet its test scores are dramatically lower. Woodfin also serves an extremely economically disadvantaged population, with 97.3% of students qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch, and its chronic absenteeism rate of 27.6% exceeds both its district rate and the state average. Ira B Jones has its own attendance concerns at 23.7%, and it shows an unusual pattern of weaker early-grade performance but strong 5th grade reading and science scores. Both schools experienced large year-over-year swings in test results, which is common in small schools where a single cohort can shift percentages dramatically. Overall, the data show how poverty and chronic absenteeism shape school performance in ways that extra money and staff alone may not fully address.